Tsuyoshi Ikegami

Embodied representation of space and action in blind humans

Researcher

Tsuyoshi Ikegami

Outline

Visually impaired athletes, such as blind soccer players, can achieve so skillful and precise motor performance that you would think they could see. How does the brain achieve accurate spatial cognition and body control without relying on vision? This project focuses on the embodied neural representations of space and action in blind individuals and aims to elucidate the brain mechanisms by which the visually impaired brain utilizes bodily sensory information (mainly proprioception) to achieve spatial cognition and motor control.

Hiroki Ishizuka

Fully-skin-type Tactile Sensor Using Artificial Neurons

Researcher

Hiroki Ishizuka

Outline

I develop a fully-skin-type tactile sensor that reproduces the skin, sensory nerves, and sensory mechanism using engineering techniques to record and understand the tactile sensation fully. First, I fabricate a tactile sensor reproduces the skin’s structure and size. Tiny sensing elements in the tactile sensor are densely arranged like sensory nerves. Next, I develop a signal processing method to make the response of the tactile sensor closer to the actual sensory nerve response and implement the signal processing method in FPGA. Finally, I confirm that the tactile sensor has the same sensory capabilities as humans and analyze the obtained data.

Kei Oyama

Exploration of neural circuits that produce “realization” from multisensory information

Researcher

Kei Oyama

Outline

The purpose of this study is to explore the neural basis of prediction of state of environments, realization of environmental changes, and flexible switching of behavior, using macaque monkeys. I will focus on the function of the orbitofrontal cortex that integrates multisensory information, and identify the functional roles of the neural pathways from sensory cortices to orbitofrontal cortex, and between the orbitofrontal cortex and the subcortical nucleus. The goal of this study is to construct a functional model that explains interactive processing between sensory-prefrontal and prefrontal-subcortical areas.

Iku Tsutsui-Kimura

Neural basis of stress coping - hormonal modulation of sensory dopamine system -

Researcher

Iku Tsutsui-Kimura

Outline

The animals are endowed with stress coping which is an intrinsic ability to resist stress. Abnormality in stress coping induces psychiatric, digestive, and circulatory symptoms/diseases. The current study aims to reveal the neural mechanisms of stress coping and to gain more insight into the pathophysiology of stress maladaptation-induced diseases by investigating the hormanal modulation of sensory dopamine system, which is a newly discovered dopamine population that specifically signals multi-sensory information.

Akihiro Goto

Elucidating the mechanism of multisensory integration for contextual memory and behavioral control

Researcher

Akihiro Goto

Outline

We remember the “context” of an event by integrating various senses such as sight, sound, texture, etc. This multisensory memory is called contextual memory, and it is important to select action in complex environments. In order to analyze the mechanism by which multisensory memories are integrated in the brain as contextual memories and reflected in behavior at the cellular level, this project will develop a new fiber microendoscopy and optogenetics that can simultaneously measure and manipulate the neural activities in multiple brain regions on a long-term basis.

Misako Komatsu

Elucidation of multimodal communication mechanisms in primates with multidimensional recordings

Researcher

Misako Komatsu

Outline

Communication is important not only for conveying one’s intentions to others, but also for establishing one’s self in relation to the environment. In this research, we will attempt to elucidate the neural basis of multimodal communication in primates by combining large-scale electrocorticography with behavioral and physiological index analysis of free moving marmosets, small non-human primates.

Shunsuke Shigaki

Elucidation and reproducing of multisensory system structure of insect using sensory-motor intervention system

Researcher

Shunsuke Shigaki

Outline

This study aims to investigate an adaptive behavior generation process of an insect in response to multisensory inputs by conducting a neuroethology experiment with a virtual reality system, information thermodynamic analysis, computational neuroscience, and data-driven modeling in a complementary and step-by-step manner. We reconfigure the system into an artificial system based on an autonomous mobile robot, and aim to implement it in society as a robotic system that can move properly in an unpredictable environment like insects.

Tomoyo Shiramatsu

Elucidation of mechanisms of social bonding construction by measuring body information from multiple perspectives

Researcher

Tomoyo Shiramatsu

Outline

Social relationships are supported by complex multisensory information processing. In particular, it is a major question how do unaware signals reflecting brain information processing and the autonomic nervous system, influence the construction of sociality. In this study, we construct a system using animal model to measure such signals and motor fluctuations that can reflect the internal state of an individual from multiple perspectives, and elucidate the mechanism of social bond construction by music as an example of sociality construction through multisensory information processing.

Takuji Narumi

Elucidation of the mechanism by which the multilayered self emerges from multisensory systems and its applications

Researcher

Takuji Narumi

Outline

The purpose of this research is to elucidate the mechanism by which the multilayered self emerges from the multisensory systems. To this end, we will construct a neuroscientifically valid computational model that represents the relationship between the different layers of self (physical self, body image, and narrative self), and through basic research using virtual reality and applied research to evaluate and improve the incompatibility of self-recognition, we will verify and improve the model and establish a highly valid model for the recognition and formation of the multilayered self.

Michio Miyajima

Elucidation of regulatory mechanisms of brain function by symbiotic sensing

Researcher

Michio Miyajima

Outline

More than 1000 kinds of commensal bacteria colonize our intestines and affect various physiological functions in our body. In this research project, we will attempt to elucidate the effects of symbiotic bacteria on brain, especially the development of brain function and the developmental process of the brain, which remains largely unknown. In particular, we will focus on the effects of symbiotic bacteria on the development of multisensory systems and multisensory integration processes, and aim to elucidate the mechanisms, including the sensing mechanisms of symbiotic bacteria.